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A lot of people don’t find How I Met Your Mother problematic because they say that Barney’s blatant sexism is over-the-top and therefore won’t be taken seriously by viewers.

I disagree – I find the show, and Neil Patrick Harris’ character in particular quite upsetting. To me, that this kind of TV show, and that this character is so popular is a wonderful example of rape culture.

This clip contains a number of examples of problematic sexism to the extent of misogyny that is a theme in this show.

- “Bros before hos”. You know… because guys (bros) are awesome and women are all prostitutes (hos), and prostitutes are not really human.

- It is a good idea to manipulate and lie to women in order to convince them to have sex with you.

- You can tell if a woman is available for sex based on what she is wearing. Leopard print is basically automatic consent.

- It is unacceptable to have sex with someone’s mother.

- Get women drunk so they will have sex with you.

- Girl fights are sexy – in other words, girls are sex objects without feelings – take pictures!

- College girls who dress a certain way are easy… umm… easily one dimensional and exist purely for the male gaze and for sex?

Barney’s objectification and manipulation of women for sex (or ego) doesn’t seem to be ever contested by the other characters, in fact, the others actively participate with him. That this kind of sexism is acceptable isn’t questioned in the show. The portrayal of the women he interacts with is fairly horrific too – as if almost all women would fall for manipulative pick up lines and tricks performed by a handsome man in a suit and subsequently be super happy jump into bed with him. Women don’t really have personalities (except the main characters), and they are almost never smart enough to tell when someone is blatantly manipulating them. Even the female main characters sometimes participate in the objectification of other women – they are cool because they are dude-like. We identify them with the male characters, rather than with the other female characters who appear. We don’t like them as females, we like them because they are like men.

If that first clip wasn’t enough, here’s another (lying to and manipulating women is funny and acceptable!):

Young was tasked with lifting boxes as heavy as 70 pounds in her job as a UPS worker. When she got pregnant, her midwife recommended that she not lift more than 20 pounds, and wrote a note asking her employer to put her on light duty. Had Young been written a similar note because Young broke her arm carrying boxes, or suffered from a disability, UPS would have put her on what is known as ...

Men in nursing have earned more than women — $7,700 per year in outpatient settings and nearly $3,900 in hospitals — pretty consistently for the last 25 years. That’s according to a new study of 290,000 nurses that controlled for age, race, marital status, and children in the home.

The New York Timesconsiders some of the factors that may explain this gap:

The study did not address reasons underpinning the persistent gap. There could be several reasons, Dr. Muench said: Men may be better negotiators, for instance, or perhaps women more often leave the work force to raise children. Women may have a tougher time getting promoted, she said.

“A workplace may offer a bit more to the ...

Men in nursing have earned more than women — $7,700 per year in outpatient settings and nearly $3,900 in hospitals — pretty consistently for the last 25 years. That’s according to a new study of 290,000 nurses that controlled ...

This past weekend, Ashley Judd, actress, feminist, and Kentucky basketball fan, made a comment on Twitter about how her team’s opponent was “playing dirty & can kiss my team’s free throw making a—.” For this minor bit of shit-talking, hardly out of the norm within the craze of March Madness, she was — surprise, surprise — inundated with a barrage of misogynistic tweets.

What happened to me is the devastating social norm experienced by millions of girls and women on the Internet. Online harassers use the slightest excuse (or no ...

This past weekend, Ashley Judd, actress, feminist, and Kentucky basketball fan, made a comment on Twitter about how her team’s opponent was “playing dirty & can kiss my team’s free throw making a—.” For ...